$100 in 1976 is worth $354 in 2006,
because prices increased 254.3% over that period, an average of
4.31% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$354
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
254.3%
Average inflation rate
4.31% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$354
Price difference ($100 base)
$254
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1976 → 2006
$354
$100 in 2006 → 1976
$28.22
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2006
Between 1976 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 254.3%, which works out to an average of
4.31% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.28 buys in 2006: the 1976 dollar
lost 71.8% of its purchasing power over
these 30 years.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
Every 1976 amount converts to 2006 at the same ratio, 3.54: $1,000 becomes
$3,543, and $10,000 becomes $35,431.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2006
$1.00
$3.54
$5.00
$17.72
$10.00
$35.43
$20.00
$70.86
$50.00
$177
$100
$354
$500
$1,772
$1,000
$3,543
$5,000
$17,715
$10,000
$35,431
$100,000
$354,306
$1,000,000
$3,543,058
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2006
Between 1976 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 546.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 58.9%, against 254.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.31%
$354
Medical care
6.42%
$647
Energy
5.04%
$437
Housing
4.53%
$378
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.35%
$359
Transportation
4.04%
$328
Food
3.92%
$317
Apparel
1.56%
$159
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2006 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1976, at end
1976–1980
9.70%
44.8%
$145
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$230
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$303
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$354
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $239 by
1991, on its way to $354 in 2006; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $354; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2006: $100 is worth $354 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2006/